Alex Pereira looks to cement superstar status in heavyweight title fight at White House

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an era short on iconic, crossover stars who can capture audiences both casual and hardcore, the UFC has benefited enormously from the stoic, surgical, indomitable phenomenon that is Alex Pereira. 

A presence like his has never been so necessary. Without celebrity champions operating as commercial brands unto themselves such as Ronda Rousey and Connor McGregor, undefeated forces rewriting record books à la Jon Jones and Khabib Nurmagomedov, or generational talents clearing out divisions twice over like Georges St-Pierre or Anderson Silva, Pereira has been the closest thing the UFC has to a megastar.

He’s fought multiple times a year, every year, since his late 2021 debut. He’s waged a bitter rivalry with Israel Adesanya. He’s won both the middleweight and light-heavyweight titles with stunning knockouts. He’s cultivated a substantial, invested audience without speaking a word of English. 

And this weekend on the White House’s south lawn at UFC Freedom 250, he’ll attempt something none of those preceding superstars even teased — competing for a championship in a third weight class.

“It’s very special, historical. Something new — something that has never been done before,” said Pereira, who will fight French striker Cyril Gane for the UFC’s interim heavyweight title on Sunday. “Ever since I accepted this fight, I’ve been envisioning it. And I’ve been visualizing a lot of things that I’ve been through in my life. Everything that I’ve been able to accomplish. Things that many people didn’t believe in, and I was able to make happen.”

It’s been quite a speedrun of UFC’s upper echelons for Pereira, who’s been in eight title fights, won seven bonuses and beaten six current or former champions within less than five years. And that’s after entering the promotion at 34 years old following a decade-long pro kickboxing career.

So, naturally, he’s already talking about wanting to turn around quickly should things go his way Sunday night. And why not? Pereira’s coming off his longest stint between fights since joining the promotion — a whole eight months. He’s seldom been fresher. Plus, he turns 39 next month. There’s only so much time remaining to continue outdoing himself.

Of course, no one’s done what Pereira’s attempting to do because it shouldn’t really be doable. There’s an 80-pound expanse between the middleweight and heavyweight limits. That’s the same as the gap between flyweight and light-heavyweight — a seven-division span.

Double champions are rare enough. Only 11 fighters in UFC’s history have ever won titles in two different weight classes. And only three of them have done it at light-heavyweight and heavyweight — Randy Couture, Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones.

“Now you’re telling me a guy is going to win in three different weight classes? That’s nuts,” Cormier said. “Because Cyril Gane never could weigh 185 pounds. That’s how you see the difference in the two human beings that are going to fight for that belt this weekend. Alex weighed 185 three years ago. Cyril weighed 185 last when he was 15. He’s like 37 now. He could never make that weight class. 

“There’s a difference in size. That’s why guys generally stay in their own weight class. Three weights to me is crazy.”

Therein lies a central tension point of this fight. How does Pereira look as a heavyweight? He says he expects to check in around 250 pounds in the octagon, a weight we’ve never seen him carry in a fight. While that will no doubt make Pereira’s already terrifying power even more profound, it ought to come at a cardiovascular cost, too.

And in Gane, Pereira isn’t fighting a plodder. The 36-year-old carries 245 pounds on his six-foot-four frame easily and utilizes the kind of naturally athletic, fluid movement that wouldn’t be out of place at middleweight. He bounces around at distance in near-perpetual motion, making him one of the trickier matchups for Pereira’s methodical, counter-heavy style. 

In his UFC career, Pereira’s either marched opponents backwards into the fence and punished them in close quarters, or calmly cut them down with leg kicks and caught them with counters as they push forward. But Gane’s entire game is predicated on staying out of dangerous areas and picking fighters apart from range.

It isn’t hard to envision a scenario in which Gane remains active and forces Pereira to chase him around the octagon while landing kicks and jabs, winning purely on volume or even depleting his opponent’s gas tank and finding a finish. But for his part, Gane says he isn’t expecting anything different than what Pereira’s shown in lighter weight classes. 

“He’s a professional. So, I’m pretty sure he and his team know what they’re doing,” Gane said. “I’m preparing for the best version of Alex Pereira at heavyweight. With full speed, conditioning and power.”

For what it’s worth, Gane’s never been knocked out in his combat sports career, which began in muay Thai and took a quick pit stop in kickboxing before he began focusing on MMA. That’s thanks to his movement, which has helped him absorb fewer strikes per minute than any other active UFC heavyweight.

Yet as we’ve seen time and again with Pereira, it only takes one shot for him to alter the course of a fight. He’s also a prolific leg kicker, chopping down opponents at the calves. Land a few clean and Gane’s mobility advantage deteriorates. If you see Gane move to tie Pereira up and clinch against the fence, that’s likely a tell that those low kicks are working.

Of course, neither man here wants to bother with grappling, standing or otherwise. Gane’s landed three takedowns in his last eight fights. Pereira’s landed none. Meanwhile, both have remarkably similar striking stats, averaging a shade north of five landed per minute with a touch more than 60 per cent accuracy. If this fight ends up on the mat, something extremely unusual has happened.

“I’m a very well-trained guy. But he’s also aggressive and very well trained. He doesn’t come to play. So, you have to be attentive at all times,” Pereira said. “I’m going to try to impose my game and be as aggressive as possible. It’s hard to actually predict the fight, but I know I’m going to be aggressive and smart in my game.”

Now, the six-foot-five, 255-pound shadow looming over all of this is Tom Aspinall, UFC’s true heavyweight champion. He’s been out of action since last October following bilateral eye injuries suffered from a gouge during a title defence against Gane that was ruled no contest. According to a recent update on his YouTube channel, Aspinall’s yet to be cleared for contact or sparring but could be soon, which would allow him to begin training to fight the winner of Saturday’s interim title fight.

When will Aspinall be cleared to compete? How long will it take him to prepare? How quickly can the UFC turn around either Pereira or Gane? We don’t have answers to any of these questions at the moment.

But considering UFC’s undisputed heavyweight title has been contested only five times in the last five years — Francis Ngannou vs. Stipe Miocic at UFC 260; Ngannou vs. Gane at UFC 270; Jones vs. Gane at UFC 285; Jones vs. Stipe Miocic at UFC 309; and Gane vs. Aspinall at UFC 321 — the promotion is going to want answers sooner rather than later. 

Over the last half-decade, no other division has been as bogged down by as much inactivity, calamity and general malarkey as heavyweight, which is meant to be one of the company’s premier weight classes. And yet, it may also play host to a historic feat Sunday night — one no other UFC athlete has even tried. 

Pereira’s been a saviour for the UFC in a superstar-short era. He’s literally saved cards, both with spectacular performances and with his mere presence after being called late when a fight fell apart. At UFC’s biggest event in years, can he save heavyweight, too?

“I know the responsibilities. It’s a gigantic event. We know it’s different, we see it’s different,” Pereira said. “But none of this, for me, is pressure. The only pressure I have is the pressure of the fight. We’re here, we’re going to fight, we know the risks. So, for me, this is controlled pressure. 

“I’m just happy to have an opportunity to do something like this. I’m embracing it with all my heart.”